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Qatar Tribune
28-06-2025
- General
- Qatar Tribune
Qatar Radio: Voice of the citizen and nation, 57 years of progress
QNA Doha Qatar Radio has celebrated the 57th anniversary of its launch over the airwaves, a radiant media beacon in the sky of the nation, carrying its voice to all corners of the world, transmitting its heartbeat to future generations. It stands as a shining star in the Arab media landscape and a sincere voice from the heart of Doha to the far reaches of the earth, conveying the history, present, and future of the country with all that encompasses; its land, its people, its values, principles, deep-rooted heritage, and its vision and aspirations for a brighter future. The radio station, which began broadcasting on June 25 of 1968, marked the birth of a new Arab voice. It started with limited hours of transmission but grew steadily over the years until it became a 24-hour broadcaster. During this continuous journey of dedication, the station has engaged with its listeners and moved forward with successive modernization plans across all departments and staff, fueled by boundless ambition and unmatched determination. Over the past decades, Qatar Radio has served as the voice of Qatar to the world and as a media platform that contributed to consolidating national identity, enhancing belonging, and highlighting the genuine values of Qatari society. Since its inception, it has played a central role in serving the nation through a variety of programs. It has accompanied all political, economic, cultural, and sports events in the country, contributing to raising public awareness and strengthening national identity. It has borne witness to the country's achievements, events, and initiatives across all sectors both domestically and internationally, playing a vital role in portraying Qatar's progressive image in regional and international arenas. The station has stood present at every pivotal stage of the nation's history, accompanying the people of Qatar through moments of development and prosperity. It has remained a responsible platform at all times, loyal to the mission of conscious and committed journalism. Since its launch, the station has been committed to offering diverse content that caters to a wide range of tastes. It uses Modern Standard Arabic while incorporating the Qatari dialect. Qatar Radio has helped strengthen societal cohesion and conveyed numerous important messages to citizens, raising awareness through educational, health, and environmental programs. The station has also aired programs targeting the broader Arab audience, promoting cultural and intellectual exchange among Arab nations. Qatar Radio expanded its news coverage to include a wide array of topics such as politics, economics, sports, and culture. It launched numerous news programs including bulletins, talk shows, and analytical segments. It has collaborated with many Arab and international radio stations to exchange news and programs, participated in numerous regional and international media conferences and events, and organized its own international conferences. It also sought to host joint meetings with sisterly and friendly radio stations across the Gulf and Arab world to discuss various pressing issues. In the realm of drama, Qatar Radio has produced numerous radio plays and series that have been well-received by audiences. Radio drama played a significant role in spreading awareness and education, reinforcing national unity and social cohesion, and serving as a vital source of entertainment for both citizens and residents. It also contributed to preserving and reviving folk heritage by recording and broadcasting traditional songs, chants, and folk tales. Furthermore, it supported Qatari artists and musicians by showcasing their work and introducing them to a wider audience. Qatar Radio has not rested on the successes and media achievements of past years, but has embarked on a continuous journey of development, growth, and modernization to keep pace with media and technological advancements and to strengthen its role as a leading media platform. With the advent of the digital technology era, Qatar Radio quickly embraced this evolution. The station underwent comprehensive technical upgrades, incorporating the latest radio production and broadcasting technologies. This included modernizing its studios, upgrading recording and editing systems, and improving broadcast quality. At the beginning of the new millennium, Qatar Radio took a major step toward the future by transitioning to digital broadcasting. This shift was not merely a change in technology but a fundamental transformation in how radio services were delivered and how the station engaged with its audience. As the internet expanded and digital technology advanced, Qatar Radio recognized the importance of having a digital presence. A sophisticated website was launched, allowing listeners to stream live content online, access program archives, and interact with content. The most significant step, however, was the launch of smart applications for Qatar Radio on mobile phones and tablets. This move enabled the station to reach a wider audience, making it possible for anyone, anywhere in the world, to tune in to its programs via the internet or mobile apps. On this special day, we reflect on the milestones of this pioneering media institution, which started with just a few hours of daily broadcasting and grew into a prominent media beacon that now broadcasts around the clock in multiple languages, reaching millions of listeners in Qatar, the Gulf region, and across the world. The origins of Qatar Radio date back to 1965, with the establishment of the first radio service in the country, the Grand Mosque Radio, which broadcast Qur'an recitations, religious programs, and news on Fridays and special occasions. This initiative laid the foundation for the official launch of Qatar Radio on Jun. 25, 1968. The station began broadcasting on medium wave for five hours a day in Arabic, divided into a morning segment of an hour and a half and an evening segment of three hours. In 1969, the total airtime increased to nine hours, then to 13 hours in 1970, and to 19 hours in 1982, until it eventually became a 24-hour broadcast service in 2002. As part of its ambitious plans to deliver Qatar's voice to non-Arabic speakers within and beyond the country, Qatar Radio launched an English-language service in 1971. Initially broadcasting for one hour, the service expanded to 19 hours by 2004. In 1980, a service in Urdu was introduced, resonating strongly with the Urdu-speaking community in Qatar and the wider Gulf. This began with a one-hour daily broadcast on medium wave and expanded to three hours by 1989. In 1985, a unique French-language service was launched, unmatched in the entire region at the time, broadcasting three hours daily on medium wave. In 1992, Qatar Radio introduced a dedicated 'Qur'an Radio' service, focusing on Qur'anic recitation, religious studies, Hadith, and interpretive texts, while also addressing contemporary issues through a religious lens. The station received wide public approval. On this cherished occasion, which holds special meaning for everyone living in this country and for media professionals across Qatar, the Gulf, and the Arab world, it is worth reaffirming that radio will always retain its unique charm and powerful presence. With its warm, familiar human voices, it continues to touch hearts and minds in a way that no advanced technology can fully replace, regardless of how far it progresses.
Mint
21-05-2025
- Business
- Mint
UAE Releases Falcon Arabic AI Model To Outcompete Mideast Rivals
Bloomberg Updated 21 May 2025, 11:56 AM IST (Bloomberg) -- A research arm of the Abu Dhabi government has released a powerful new Arabic-language artificial intelligence model in a bid to preserve its technological lead over rivals in the Middle East. The new system, called Falcon Arabic, was trained on a dataset spanning Modern Standard Arabic and regional dialects. The Technology Innovation Institute (TII), the Abu Dhabi group behind Falcon, claims the new offering matches the performance of models up to 10 times its size. TII also launched Falcon H1, a small model that it said outperforms similarly sized options from Meta Platforms Inc. and Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. In the Middle East, as in other markets, companies have been rethinking whether the significant cost of building cutting-edge AI models from scratch is worthwhile. The new Falcon releases signal the United Arab Emirates is vying to stay in the AI race. While Falcon remains the leading offering from the UAE, it has struggled to keep up with advances from open-source alternatives from Meta and China's DeepSeek. In 2023, TII touted the AI system's first-place ranking in open-source models on Hugging Face, a closely-watched barometer for the industry. As of last month, Falcon did not rank in the top 500 on the platform's leaderboard, Bloomberg News previously reported. Its user numbers also lag far behind Meta and other rivals. The UAE has pushed ahead with other ways to get into the current AI boom beyond model development. G42, an Emirati tech conglomerate, recently announced plans to build a 5-gigawatt data center campus in Abu Dhabi, along with several US firms. MGX, an investment fund co-formed by G42, partnered with Nvidia Corp. and French firms to establish what they say will be Europe's largest AI data center campus. MGX has also backed US AI developers OpenAI and Elon Musk's xAI. More stories like this are available on
Zawya
30-04-2025
- Business
- Zawya
CNTXT AI unveils Munsit: The most accurate Arabic speech recognition model
Built in the UAE, Munsit sets a new global standard for Arabic speech recognition, powering seamless transcription across private and public services DUBAI, UAE – CNTXT AI, the UAE-based Data and AI company, today announced the launch of Munsit — a next-generation Arabic speech-to-text model that outperforms every global model on Arabic, including those from OpenAI, Meta, Microsoft and ElevenLabs. Munsit' — derived from the Arabic root for 'to listen' — symbolizes a breakthrough in voice technology that truly listens with attentiveness and understands the richness of Arabic speech. Developed entirely in the UAE, Munsit sets a new benchmark for transcription accuracy across Modern Standard Arabic and 25+ dialects, enabling seamless Arabic voice data processing across real-world applications. This breakthrough reflects CNTXT AI's mission to build sovereign technology — AI built in the region, for the region — that competes globally. The model is available now via API, and on-premises deployment for organizations seeking full data control. How Munsit Powers Arabic Voice Solutions Munsit is designed to deliver highly accurate Arabic transcription across diverse, real-world scenarios. Addressing the increasing demand for reliable Arabic language solutions, Munsit empowers essential applications, including: Subtitling for Content Creators: Automatically generates precise Arabic subtitles for films, videos and podcasts. Meeting Notes and Minute-Taking: Transcribes meetings and discussions into Arabic, supporting official documentation and efficient record-keeping. Call Center Support: Converts voice messages and chatbot interactions in Arabic into text, streamlining feedback and quality assurance processes. Government and Public Services: Offers transcription and dialect comprehension services tailored for public sector needs, such as processing citizen requests and ensuring accessible communication. Built for Arabic, Trained on Real Voices To create Munsit, CNTXT AI processed over 30,000 hours of Arabic audio, refining it into a high-quality 15,000-hour dataset that captures a wide range of dialects, accents, age groups, and environments. Munsit is powered by advanced AI and high-performance NVIDIA infrastructure, delivering fast, accurate transcription for a variety of Arabic-speaking use cases — from call centers and public services to education and media. Leading Global Performance in Arabic AI Benchmarking on Hugging Face leaderboard confirmed that Munsit-1 outperformed leading global speech recognition systems — including OpenAI's Whisper and GPT-4o Transcribe, Meta's SeamlessM4T, ElevenLabs' Scribe, and Microsoft Azure's Speech-to-Text —on Arabic datasets. CNTXT AI has also released a detailed research paper, outlining the model's architecture, training methodology and evaluation results. 'Munsit is more than just a breakthrough in speech recognition — it's a declaration that Arabic belongs at the forefront of global AI,' said Mohammad Abu Sheikh, CEO of CNTXT AI. 'We've proven that world-class AI doesn't need to be imported — it can be built here, in Arabic, for Arabic. This launch sets a new standard for sovereign technology, made in the UAE and ready for the world.' A Strategic Step Toward Arabic-Language AI Leadership Munsit-1 is the first step in a broader roadmap toward a full suite of Arabic voice technologies — from TTS to AI voice assistants. 'This is only version one,' added Abu Sheikh. 'What comes next will redefine how Arabic is understood, spoken, and processed by machines — on our terms, in our language.' ABOUT CNTXT AI is a UAE-based Data and AI company that enables organizations to prepare, build, test, deploy, and scale sovereign AI solutions while maintaining full data control. Our comprehensive suite of solutions transforms data into actionable AI applications—seamlessly, securely, and without compromising sovereignty. From AI-ready data pipelines to scalable deployment and industry-standard validation, we ensure AI adoption is practical, compliant, and optimized for real-world impact.
Arabian Business
31-03-2025
- Business
- Arabian Business
AB Majlis podcast: Google MENA tackles ‘hardest challenge' in AI – Mastering 16 Arabic dialects
Google's Gemini AI has conquered 16 of the region's 25 Arabic dialects, but the tech giant admits the complexity of Arabic language variations remains one of the most formidable challenges in AI development worldwide. In an exclusive interview on the AB Majlis podcast, Anthony Nakache, Managing Director of Google MENA, revealed the company's progress in creating AI that can truly understand the region's linguistic diversity. 'The challenge is, how do you account for the local nuances and the cultural differences,' Nakache explained. 'This is a hard challenge, but this is something that we are committed to do if you want to make it as useful as possible.' While Gemini now understands 16 Arabic dialects, it currently responds only in Modern Standard Arabic — highlighting the ongoing technical hurdle of building AI that not only comprehends regional speech patterns but can authentically replicate them. $15 million initiative targets Arabic AI gap To accelerate progress, Google has announced its largest-ever regional initiative, committing $15 million through to advance AI skills, safety, and adoption across the Middle East and North Africa. 'We'll launch new curriculum for AI in Arabic. We'll also launch new Google-led and partner-led training programs to really train all users in the region,' Nakache said, detailing plans to upskill half a million people in AI over the next two years. This massive training push comes alongside infrastructure investments including operational cloud regions in Qatar and Saudi Arabia, a newly announced region in Kuwait, and expanded AI capabilities in Saudi Arabia. Google's approach to solving the Arabic language challenge involves multidisciplinary teams of 'product experts, engineers, linguists' working together and making direct visits to Saudi Arabia and the UAE to gather user feedback. Young Arabs reveal unexpected AI usage patterns The investment is driven partly by surprising data on how regional users are utilising AI—in ways markedly different from global trends. 'Over the last couple of months, we've seen a massive increase, especially in the young generation, of prompts that are related to productivity,' Nakache revealed. 'These prompts include things like developing a CV, preparing for an interview, writing effective emails, and that's actually not something we see to the same extent in other parts of the world.' This career-focused approach distinguishes MENA users from those in other regions, where generative AI is often used more for entertainment or general information. 'The young generations in MENA are getting ready to enter the workforce, but also getting ready to develop their career and grow their career using AI,' he added. $320 million economic potential drives government support The economic stakes are enormous. Nakache cited analysis from The Economist projecting that 'by 2030 AI in this region could accrue up to $320 billion in economic value.' This potential has catalysed unprecedented government action across the Gulf. 'They're appointing ministers. They are creating AI authorities. They are building progressive regulation. They are investing in infrastructure,' Nakache said, noting that regional governments 'are doing everything they can to really capture this amazing opportunity.' A study by Ipsos found that 'UAE users are among the most optimistic when it comes to AI globally,' creating a uniquely receptive market for advanced AI technologies. Education and healthcare first to transform Looking beyond language capabilities, Nakache identified education and healthcare as the sectors poised for most immediate transformation. In education, he described AI's ability to help teachers 'boost their creativity and improve their productivity,' allowing them to 'save time and reinvest that time working with students.' He shared a personal anecdote of using Gemini with his 7-year-old son, having 'a 10-minute conversation about the solar system' that he called 'a magical experience' that demonstrated how AI is 'totally changing the way we are interacting with information.' For healthcare, Google's efforts include Med LM, a specialised medical language model, and its Alpha Fold project, which recently earned two Google researchers a Nobel Prize in Chemistry for revolutionising how scientists predict protein structures. 'It used to take four to five years for one person to actually predict the 3D shape of a protein,' Nakache explained. 'In one year with Alpha Fold, we've mapped 200 million proteins,' accelerating research in fields from cancer treatment to climate science. After 15 years in the MENA region, Nakache concluded that Google has 'never been more committed to this region than we are today,' with AI representing 'the most profound way we're actually going to fulfill our mission' of organising the world's information. Tune in to AB Majlis every Monday To listen to the full episode and gain a comprehensive understanding of doing business in the Gulf region, visit our RSS feed or check out AB Majlis on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and other platforms. Episodes are also available on: Tune in every Monday for weekly episodes that will help you stay ahead of the curve and enrich your understanding of the Gulf region.
